Remember When: Jeff Brohm before Purdue including the NFL & XFL

You probably either had prior knowledge or knew that Jeff Brohm is a longtime coach in NCAA Football with several stops along the way before Purdue. What you maybe didn’t know is that Brohm was a fairly good quarterback in college, and even made it to the NFL and then excelled in the XFL.

Brohm got his start in football when he was a standout player at Trinity High School in Louisville. He was named the “Kentucky High School Player of the Decade” for the 1980s and won the Kentucky “Mr. Football” Award in 1988. while leading his team to a state championship and undefeated season. Brohm later in his life would be inducted as a member of the 2014 Kentucky High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame class.

Once Brohm graduated from high school, he decided to attend the University of Louisville, and eventually became the starting quarterback in his junior and senior seasons. Back then, Brohm wasn’t too shabby of a quarterback compiling two 2000+ yard seasons in 1992 and 1993.

His skills were not used well when he entered the NFL, being undrafted in the 1994 draft. He did sign with the Chargers as an undrafted free agent and jumped around with several teams including the Redskins, 49ers, Buccaneers, Broncos, and Browns before his football career took off.

On October 28, 2000, Brohm was drafted with the fourth overall pick in the XFL Draft by the Orlando Rage. He earned the starting quarterback position and led the Rage to a season-opening win 33–29 over the Chicago Enforcers. During the 2001 XFL season, he owned the league’s highest QB rating at 99.9 and was named first team All-XFL. It was that season when Brohm became a household name after a brutal sack and then he said this after the game.

“Let me answer that question by asking you two questions – One, is this or is this not the XFL? Yes, it is. Two, do I or do I not currently have a pulse? Yes, I do. Let’s play football”

The statement proved that Brohm was a tough guy. That one statement could have opened his entire coaching career, becoming the coach for the Louisville Fire, an area football team. From there, he would become the quarterbacks’ coach at Louisville from 2003-2006. Brohm then went on to be the assistant coach then the offensive coordinator at Louisville.

He would have a few other stops after Louisville with the same positions, then was hired by Western Kentucky to become the head football coach in 2014. From there he posted three straight winning seasons and bowl appearances, becoming one of the better head coaches in college football. Then a miracle happened, and Purdue was able to get Brohm to become their next head coach, and here we are today.